Arch support for shoes



Jan. 19 1937. I ULLRlCH 2,068,251

ARCH SUPPORT FOR SHOES Filed May 17, 1934 wllllllllllmmiiifii INVENTOR HENRY F. ULLRICH Patented Jan. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT" o ncE 2,068,251? Anon SUPPORT FOR sno s Henry F. 'flllrich, New York, N. Y. Application May 177', 1934, serial No. 72 ,062

6 Claims. (01. 36-71) This invention relates to means for supporting arches of feet, and more especially-to an arch support which may be either applied to the shoe during manufacture or as an accessory thereafter, and which will support the weight of the foot on the outside of the shoe to prevent fatigue, particularly for people who have to stand on their feet a great deal, as for instance, while at work.

10 An object of the invention is to provide an arch support for the inside of the foot.

Another object is to provide an arch support which will support one side of the longitudinal arch in a readily adjustable manner.

A further object is to provide a readily detachable or attachable arch support member which may be easily applied to the inner sole of the shoe after manufacture and brought into arch supporting position by lacing the opposite end through the eyelet of the shoe when lacing the shoe proper.

All these and other objects as suggested here below are attained by the methods and means now to be described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a typical low shoe or oxford, showing the improved arch support in supporting position therein, the view being partly cut away to more clearly show the details.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view through the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the clamping member by which the lower end of the arch supporting member is adjustably fastened in the inside of the shoe at the instep.

And Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the arch supporting member or webbing showing the elongated adjusting holes by which it is held to the inner sole of the shoe and also the eyelets on the opposite end through which it is laced and held in position at the top at the time the shoe is laced or fastened to the foot.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

0 There are millions of people who have to stand on their feet all day long, as when at work. Foot specialists have found that much of their fatigue can be prevented if they can prevent the weight of the body from falling on the inside of the shoe. In the present invention this is accomplished by shifting the support for this weight to the outside of the shoe.

The invention utilizes an arch supporting member l0 consisting preferably of a piece of strong canvas Webbing about 3 inches wide, usually,

positioned across the instep on the inside of the shoe and fastened to the sole along the outside edge of the shank and then swung upwardly and inwardly with its opposite end eyeletted to be held by the shoelace, which is put through them when lacing the shoe. In this manner the weight is forced to the outside of the foot, which is partially suspended in the webbing to thus relieve the fatigue on the toe, heel and flat of the foot.

The eyelets, or holes, in the webbing H) are shown at H, these being of a size and spacing to conform with that of the eyelets of the shoe. Spaced elongated holes 12 with the elongation longitudinally of the webbing ID are positioned at the opposite end thereof as shown in Fig. 4.

A thin metal plate l3, Fig. 3, having countersunk holes i l-I4 spaced to align with the elongated holes l2-I2 in the webbing is: used to fasten the latter to the inside shank portion of the shoe as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The shoe is shown at I5, the lacing l6 serving to fasten not only the shoe in position but also the upper end of the arch supporting member ID.

It should be noted that the web strap I0 is non-elastic and runs from the outer portion of the shank forwardly to make a spiral conforming to the arch of the foot, this being so because, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, the place of attachment of the web strap [0 to the sole of the shoe is appreciably toward the heel from the place of attachment of the opposite end of the Web strap which is laced in position with the shoelace l6. Plate I3 is preferably made of Monel metal or other non-rusting material. The screws or bolts I! which go through holes lfi-M of member l3 to hold same in place over the top of webbing member ID are also of non-rusting material with countersunk heads to lie flush with the upper surface of member l3. This plate i3 is preferably inset into the inner sole as shown in Fig 2 so that its upper surface is flush with the surface of the inner sole to provide the greatest comfort to the user. The screws or bolts |'|-l'l may be loosened from time to time to shorten the webbing member H] by moving it under the plate in the elongated slot |2l2 to take up any stretching of the webbing material or otherwise to adjust the webbing to a proper support of the arch.

Having now described the invention, what is claimed as new and for which Letters Patent of the United States is desired is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, an arch support for shoes comprising a flat band of supporting material having means adapting it to be adjustably fastened indirectly to the outer sole of the shoe along the outside edge of the shank at one end and to be fastened by the shoelace of the shoe at the other end.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an arch support for shoes comprising a flat band of supporting material adapted to be removably fastened in the shoe along the outside edge of the shank at one end and to be fastened by the shoelace of the shoe at the other end, the shank fastening being adjustable and consisting of clamping means adapted to hold the shoe-attached end of the supporting member at a plurality of positions beneath the clamping means.

3. An arch support for shoes comprising a nonelastic band adjustably clamped to the inside of the shoe along the outer edge of the shank through a pair of spaced elongated holes and having eyelets at the opposite end for attachment to the shoe by means of the shoelace thereof, this arch support being swung upwardly and forwardly from below to assume a somewhat spiral contour to conform to the natural shape of the arch of the foot being supported.

4. An arch support comprising a metal plate adapted to be screwed into the insole of the shoe and a flat band of webbing adjustably held therebeneath, and means for holding the webbing in suspension beneath the longitudinal arch of the foot from a position at the top of the foot about midway of its length.

5. An arch support adapted to be afiixed to a shoe after manufacture comprising a supporting member for the foot at the longitudinal arch, held to the shoe by lacing through eyelets in alignment with the eyelets on one side of the shoe upper, and the other end being clamped indirectly to the outer sole of the shoe.

6. The invention as in claim 5, the clamped end of the arch supporting member being positioned V longitudinally along the outside edge of the shank and the upper end being laced to the opposite side of the shoe upper, the supporting member being suspended therebetween in such manner as to force the weight of the user to be supported on the outside of the foot.

HENRY F. ULLRICH. 

